Random Stuff!

[TheLocalYokel]

So the women vanquished the ladies at Wembley today. Bad luck, Blues. I watched a few minutes of the game on the telly but I could not stand the over excitable and noisy accompaniment of Jonathan Pearce (a fellow Bristol City supporter as well but we'll gloss over that), not that I would have watched the entire game anyway.

Speaking of women and ladies, the respective roles of the Lady of the Bedchamber and the Women of the Bedchamber in the Royal Household intrigues me. At one time I thought perhaps they were employed to empty the Queen's chamber pot but quickly realised that the Queen would not need such a rudimentary apparatus.

In fact, it seems that their purpose is to attend the monarch when the incumbent is female or the queen consort when the monarch is male, and maybe princesses as well. Women or Lady they are mainly (perhaps always) wives, widows or daughters of peers.

Anyway, back to the footballing distaff of Blue Birmingham with a hope that they go one better next year, unless they come up against Bristol City Women, another proletarian group of footballing females.

 

[Ianbutty]

Shame about the result yesterday. I missed then end (dinner was called) but did we get a rendition of keep right on to then end of the road?

 

[Ray Finkle]

I only caught the first half, I gave up after the third goal.

 

[Ianbutty]

I hope the aviation industry has kept it's software up to date. This cyber attack is escalating. I hope they find the culprits.

 

[Vile8er]

I only caught the first half, I gave up after the third goal.

Me too. They were outclassed and really had an off day. Have seen them play several times and they are a better team than how they they performed at Wembley.

 

[Kevin Farnell]

I remember well the feeling of horror and disbelief when the news came through concerning the Paris disaster in March 1974 which at the time was the worst accident in aviation in history.

I also remember that very clearly. I was 10 years old at the time and remember a 'newsflash' being broadcast on BBC1 (they always started 'We interrupt this program to bring you a newsflash'). You always knew it was bad news.
Just a few weeks later (12 April 1974), I travelled with my family from LGW to JFK. I can remember descending the steps from the pier, to see two Laker Airways aircraft boarding at the same time. One being a B720, the other being a DC-10. It wasn't until we showed our boarding pass, that we knew we were flying on the DC-10 (the excitement to an aeroplane obsessed 10 year old was indescribable). I can even recall seeing the name 'Western Belle' painted on the nose, as we boarded. I later learned that this was DC-10-10 G-AZZD.
One thing of note, was that in each seat back pocket was a leaflet explaining that this aircraft had received modifications to the cargo hold doors, following the Turkish Airlines disaster.
On our return flight two weeks later, we boarded well after midnight (so as a 10 year old, I would have been extremely tired). I thought that I again read 'Western Belle' on the nose as we boarded. This time however there were no leaflets in the seat back pockets regarding the safety modification.
Shortly after returning home, there was a documentary regarding the Turkish Airlines accident and it was stated that at the time of making the program, the only aircraft still awaiting the modification was Laker Airways DC-10 G-AZZC 'Eastern Belle'.
I've never been sure as to whether we returned on the same aircraft that took us outbound, or whether my tired eyes misread the name.
I doubt I'll ever know for sure, but the lack of the safety modification leaflet certainly points to the possibility that the return flight was by G-AZZC.

Kevin

 

[Brum X]

Midland Metro Tram at St Chads Tram Stop.
Photo credit to Bureau de Strangers on SSC

 

[Brum X]

Maybe we can hit the magic 22,000 posts tonight fellow FFA members. I hope we can

 

[Ray Finkle]

Maybe we can hit the magic 22,000 posts tonight fellow FFA members. I hope we can

This should be 22k

 

[Brum X]

This should be 22k

 

[Ray Finkle]

I had a truck load of timber, posts and fence panels delivered ready to crack on in the garden and rain stops play.

Typical

 

[thunderchild]

I'm going to a BBQ this afternoon! ️

 

[richard winterbourn]

View attachment 5227

 

[richard winterbourn]

I'm no great shakes as a photographer (unlike my great grandfather who was a famous Victorian 'photographic artist') and neither am i great at technology. So hence this pic and caption are separate because i am not sure how to combine the both in one post.... But this is a picture of Flying Scotsman as it sped through my home town of Leominster in Herefordshire yesterday. It really drew the crowds but what was so heartening was the fact that so many young people came out to see it. British engineering at its best!

 

[Ray Finkle]

I'm no great shakes as a photographer (unlike my great grandfather who was a famous Victorian 'photographic artist')

That's a great picture and it's definitely good to hear of a decent turnout.

I don't suppose that you have any of your Grandfather's pictures to hand, it would be great to see them?

I'm going to a BBQ this afternoon! ️

Me too

It's supposed to brighten up later but at the moment I'm looking out of the window at a huge pile of soaking wet timber knowing that I have so much to do

 

[richard winterbourn]

Ray, i inherited some 3,500 of my great grandfather's photographic plates which date from around 1860 through to 1910 and five years ago i donated them all to the Resource Centre at Herefordshire County Records Office with the proviso that they are to be available digitally to anyone for research purposes, not personal gain.
However i do have copies of all the negatives on memory stick in my home which i will use, eventually, when i finish writing the book about my great grandfather, a noted photographic artist, musician, astronomer and botanist.
As you will understand, i do not have any photographs of planes, but i do have one or two of locomotives on the Shrewsbury - Hereford line approaching Leominster Station. I will try and locate these and if possible post them on F4A.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Richard

You made the comment about it being heartening to see so many young people coming out to view the Flying Scotsman, something I endorse.

How times change though. When I was not long out of school I was based in London for a while and every Friday evening I caught the 6.30pm train from Paddington to Bristol to go home for the weekend. Our usual motive power was one of the famous GWR Castle-class steam locomotives, even though by then the GWR had become the Western Region of British Railways (later British Rail).

One Friday evening - probably around 1959/1960 - I and one or two young colleagues noticed the acceleration out of Paddington was much smarter than usual. We quickly realised that we had a diesel locomotive hauling us and when we arrived at Bristol Temple Meads I walked to the head of the train to see a Warship-class diesel-hydraulic locomotive on the front. It was probably the first time I had travelled behind a diesel. The Western Region had maintained some of the GWR's idiosyncrasies by opting for diesel-hydraulic transmission when much of BR had gone in for diesel-electric transmission for their steam-replacement programmes.

The thing is that I and some of my contemporaries thought it was a wonderful thing having the old-fashioned steam locomotives replaced by modern diesels. How my opinion has altered down the years and I suspect that of my contemporaries who were with me on that rail journey long ago.

 

[wolfheze]

Always thought that those old diesel locomotives had quite a menacing appearance.
Changing the subject a little, I have just arrived back at Birmingham on ZB951 from palma and have a question about human psychology, namely why do people get out of their seats the moment the aircraft comes to a stop and then spend 15 mins standing in the aisle or bent double under the overhead storage lockers? Same sort of thing happens at baggage reclaim where people all gather at the opening of the carousel? I didn't leave my seat until I could walk straight down the aisle and off the aircraft and went to the unoccupied area of the conveyor belt which happened to be the start anyway. Case was one of the first out so was probably in the taxi before most had collected their cases. The speed of the process is purely down to luck so what makes people push and rush about?

 

[Coathanger16]

why do people get out of their seats the moment the aircraft comes to a stop and then spend 15 mins standing in the aisle or bent double under the overhead storage lockers?

I think its because people worry that if they were to sit down, other people would barge past them meaning they'd be last off the aircraft. In the general scheme of things it doesn't particularly matter whose first off the aircraft - you'll still all be waiting at the baggage carousel before any bags come off!

I remember one time arriving into T5 at Heathrow into one of the satellite piers. My Dad told us all to hurry off the aircraft so we could fit on the first people mover back to the main terminal, so we could be at the front of the queue for immigration. He didn't like it very much when I told him we were one of a number of flights - some long haul with c. 300 pax - arriving at pretty much the same time. With something like 1000 passengers arriving at immigration over a small period, being 1st off an A320 isn't going to make much difference compared to being last off.

 

[wolfheze]

Weather was somewhat better out there this morning!